I think people overestimate the effect of Prop 13 compared to all the other factors. I'd guess that the extreme housing demand due to an abundance of well paying jobs, generational construction labor shortages, and low interest rates all have a bigger impact than prop 13.

I think those engineers making over 300k are in the top 5% of engineers in the area. And Silicon Valley itself already consists of above average engineers. Just take a look at Paysa or GlassDoor. Last time I checked, total comp was floating around 180-200k.

I'm not so sure there would be that much resistance from residents. Brooklyn Basin to the south is empty right now. To the north is Laney Fields, to the west is a Laney's parking lot, to the east is an old train depot. The biggest impact would be the 2-3 blocks in the north east which is roughly 1/3 industrial. It's not as isolated as Mission Bay, but I don't think it's as bad as you say.

Howard Terminal is harder to achieve. There's hazardous waste clean up, regional rail crossing issues, moving the nearby PG&E station, building an infill BART station, and getting approval from Port of Oakland. Each of these are filled with red tape that can delay completion for years.

The Peralta site seems relatively doable. Brooklyn Basin is already being constructed and can support a cluster of restaurants and bars. The Lake Merritt Bart is close enough, there's electricity/plumbing infrastructure on site, and the Peralta school district just voiced their support.

Isn't there also the 27.5 year depreciation thing on the rental portion of your home? If the Oakland home is 500k, and he's renting out 2/3 of the space, he has an annual deduction of about $12,000/year (500k/27.5*2/3). Throw in the mortgage deduction of ~15k or so and most of his rental income will be effectively tax exempt. There's also a list of other things that you can deduct.

It's not uncommon for the condo/apartment decision to made very late in the process (after breaking ground). The decision is based on economic factors like how hot the market is and when they need the cash.

Frankly, the Richmond is a suburb. Underground rail there makes about as much economic sense there as it does in Sausalito.

I'd rather see subway lines that facilitate new high density development. For example, if BART ran a line from Balboa Park to the Cow Palace, that parking lot could be transformed into 100 acres of mid-rise development (~10k units!)

It's too expensive to buy out ~1,000 single family homes in the Richmond to achieve something similar.

Sure, but there wouldn't be multiple 5 lane super highways like we have right now. Shipping just needs 2 lanes (like the 5). Also, train infrastructure is indirectly used by all of us for shipping stuff as well.

My point is that investing more into the current freeway infrastructure disproportionately benefits the suburbs while investing more in public rails disproportionately benefits urban areas.

I mostly agree, but I think West Oakland still needs to resolve pollution issues from the port, and past factories. The surface lot and warehouse conversions happening around downtown are probably the best sites for development.

Any organization large enough will have some corruption and wasteful spending. If private companies had to disclose everything and the media had the incentive to look for the waste, I'm sure we'd find a few 250k/year employees who don't do anything.

Cities around the world are able to pull off these projects when given enough funding. Why not give ours a shot?